IS THE JOB RELATED TO STAFF POSITION WITHIN A RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE?

Yes

Tampere University of Technology (TUT) is an active scientific community of 2,000 employees and more than 10,000 students. The University operates in the form of a foundation and has a long-standing tradition of collaboration with other research institutions and business life. Many of the fields of research and study represented at the University play a key role in addressing global challenges. Internationality is an inherent part of all the University's activities. Welcome to join us at TUT!

PhD position in MSCA-ITN project FibreNet in the field of automated robotic material testing

FibreNet is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie European Training Network (ETN) within Horizon 2020 EU programme. It forms an umbrella-project that combines individual research projects of the 15 hired PhD candidates and offers common fibre-related training.

FibreNet consortium consists of seven European universities and eight European companies who will each hire 1-3 PhD students or host 1-3 months long internships (called secondments) as part of the training program. You will be recruited by TUT for the period of three years, i.e., also during the secondments.

The main objective of FibreNet is to develop a set of new tools and methods to control the properties of different products that contain bio-fibres as their functional parts (bio-fibres as opposed to man-made fibres, such as carbon fibre).

In order to achieve the objectives, each individual research project will tackle different bio-fibre related problems related to functionalization, characterization, modelling and/or to production. The scale of operation will span from nanoscale via microscale to product scale.

Job description: This PhD research project contributes to the FibreNet objectives by developing automated robotic methods for characterization of fibres and fibre-fibre bonds.

The mechanical properties of fibres and fibre-fibre bonds play a significant role in the mechanical properties of products which are based on fibre networks, such as board and paper. The current characterization methods are tedious and slow. TUT has developed methods for microrobotic fibre characterization with a present yield of approximately 10 samples/day.

The aim of this project is to develop novel robotic methods to improve the measurement throughput of bio-based fibres to a level required in industrial R&D projects by combining machine learning, vision based methods and robotic technology.

Results: The project is expected to develop methods for automating robotic fibre and bond measurement. The expected results are as follows:

A robotic system which can autonomously measure fibre and/or bond strengths, and provide multi-mode data to better understand the measurement process, and sample and material properties.

Implementation of a supervisory system to operate the manipulators and grippers.

Requirements: The general requirements for all FibreNet positions apply here, i.e.:

you may already be in a PhD program but you cannot be a PhD holder,

you must have less than 4 years of research experience, i.e., you should be an early-stage researcher,

you must not have resided or carried out your main activity in the country of the hiring organization for more than 12 months during the last 3 years immediately prior to the recruitment (short stays such as holidays and/or compulsory national service are not taken into account), and

€4726.26 (for those with family or children at the time of the recruitment)

The family status will be determined at the date of the (first) recruitment. For more details, see Section 5 of the MSCA-ITN guide. TUT offers a range of staff benefits e.g., occupational health care, flexible working hours, excellent campus sport facilities, and restaurants and cafés on campus with staff discounts.

Finland has one of the most advanced and comprehensive welfare systems in the world. It includes sickness, maternity, paternity and various family benefits, such as child-care services, and a comprehensive healthcare system. For more details, check the EU Commission’s document on social security rights in Finland

Trial period: The appointment is subject to the satisfactory completion of a trial period of four (4) months.

Other: The position will be filled now for a fixed-term period of 35 months, however max. until 30.11.2021. Appointment is expected to commence on January 2019 or as mutually agreed (1-2 months changes to the intended starting time are possible).